Recently, Football Fans for Truth learned that John Kerry claimed a significant achievement: qualifying and running the Boston Marathon.

In an ESPN interview, he said, "I ran a marathon back in '80, something like that. Did the Boston Marathon."

An ESPN analysis of his athletic achievements mentions that "[he] ran the Boston Marathon in the 1970s".

In its November 2004 issue, Runner's World observes that John Kerry "[ran] the Boston Marathon in the '70s".

In April 2002, John Kerry was the starter for the Boston Marathon. The Daily Free Press reports that Senator Kerry "lamented the fact that time constraints had made it impossible for him to run in the Marathon, which he participated in 20 years ago."

In a conversation with a Iowa state senator, John Kerry said, "I remember my first Boston Marathon ... it's a great run."

In a later article, ESPN tried to nail down the exact date and reported that "there's no official record of his feat, and his campaign did not provide further details despite repeated inquiries." The November issue of Runner's World reports that "he doesn't recall his time, and no official record exists".

While we hold that John Kerry is not fit to be sports-fan-in-chief, Football Fans for Truth will alert their many readers to John Kerry's Boston Marathon run as evidence of our dedication to honesty and openness. But we're not sure exactly when this event occurred. Did he run it twice, once in the 70s and once in 1980, or once in 1980 and once in 1982? When did he qualify for the marathon?

We aren't too surprised that John Kerry doesn't remember his time. After all, he can't remember the name of an historic football stadium or current baseball players, so how can we expect him to remember an event that happened 20....no, 22...no, 24 or 25, maybe?...years ago?

[ In an ESPN interview, he said, "I ran a marathon back in '80, something like that. Did the Boston Marathon." ]

Yeah and he's a double-ought spy too.. Jethro Kerry is just a big ol' north eastern liberal psuedo-communist lug... and his daddy Jeb Kennedy and granma the Grannybeast are just out shootin for some food and up out of ground came a bubblin a buttload of sedition, treason, and propaganda from the main stream media outlets.. HOO-WE.. says Jeb.. I figure we'll move to Hollyweird... and git culturated... Jethro bone up on yer cyphers.. Granny load the truck..

(Eddie Murphy laugh) First the moron Al Gore and then John freepin Kerry.. and Bob "welfare pimp" Dole couldn't even get the pitty vote.... and Georgie Bush really does take after Alfred E. Nueman somewhat... I'm tellin ya a bi-partisan sitcom could make a fortune if there even was such a thing as bi-partisan... which there isn't.. only ones that beleives that myth are republicans..

106
posted on 10/05/2004 12:39:24 PM PDT
by hosepipe
(This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)

http://www.bluestatesforbush.com/ Follow up notes: 9/29/04. According to Hal Higdon's Boston: A Century of Running, (page 193) from 1975-1979, runners in Kerry's age group would need to have run a 3:00 marathon in certified race to be accepted as an entrant in the Boston Marathon. In 1980, that standard was dropped to the virtually unattainable 2:50 minutes.

Although as an "unofficial entrant," Senator Kerry would not have had to complete a marathon in a qualifying time.

108
posted on 10/05/2004 12:40:28 PM PDT
by AmericanMade1776
((John Kerry is now in full retreat))

One last thing that every Boston Marathoner knows is how long did it take you to get to the starting line? Before the advent of time chips for your shoes there was always this running argument between runners about whether or not to count the time it took to actually start your run. Being a back of the packer 1 year it took 12 minutes, the other 8 minutes.

At Yale, Kerry became a stunt flyer, a pursuit he continued until recently. He learned aeronautics in the Navy, and is licensed to fly commercial aircraft, gliders and seaplanes.

Horse manure! Kerry was in the tin-can (destroyer) Navy and the brown-water (river patrol) Navy. He was never a brown-shoe (aviation). What would aeronautics have to do with destroyers and Swift boats?

I had read at one time that Edwards finished 5 marathons, including the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington. His best time was supposed to have been about 3 and 1/2 hours. (I believe it was in an issue of Runner's World.)

This is the World of Commander McKerry Your hair will curl in the World of McKerry. He fights monsters galore And then asks for still more Or so says the brag of McKerry. When on the hill the marines plant a flag They may be led by Commander McKerry. With a cannon in hand He can beat any band Or so says the brag of McKerry. Fencing and fighting and round table knighting And slaying of dragons, too. Shipping and sailing and great harpoon whaling There's nothing McKerry can't do. Hunting and trapping and gold miner mapping And flying to Timbuktu. Roping and riding and Indian guiding Commander McKerry comes through. This is the World of Commander McKerry Your head will whirl in the World of McKerry. He can do anything In his world he's a king Or so says the brag of McKerry

Yep...reminds me a lot of ol' Algore with his self-aggrandizin' memory of his supposed achievements. If Kerry'd really run the Boston Marathon, I gotta bet he'd have pictures that wouldda somehow made it into his campaign.

Horse manure! Kerry was in the tin-can (destroyer) Navy and the brown-water (river patrol) Navy. He was never a brown-shoe (aviation). What would aeronautics have to do with destroyers and Swift boats?

There were probably some secret military missions that involved Kerry flying an aircraft. He can't tell us about those secret missions. /sarcasm

Or it might be another made up story to show that George Bush isn't the only candidate who can fly. - Tom

Boston put in qualifying standards in 1970 because the number of entrants was getting out of hand...1,152 in 1969. The original standard was 4 hours, reduced to 2:50 for the men's open division by 1979, when Kerry supposedly ran. I ran as a bandit in '79 and '80, didn't see Kerry either time...'course I wasn't exactly looking for him.

If Kerry qualified, the time commitment and the run itself would be seared in his memory...Even if he ran as a bandit there is no way he would forget when it was. I don't believe a word of it. Don't look for the Boston Athletic Association to have the records on this, they were lax about preserving their history until about 1990 when they started to take an interest, realizing the value of it as their 100th running approached in 1996.

Just called them and they said they have an official book that lists the times. However I didn't ask them when they started publishing the book of participants. If someone's in Boston they could drop by and look through the old books. Another idea would be to go back through old papers for the dates around the marathon event and look for John Kerry's coverage. Wasn't he working for Gov. Michael Dukakis back then?

I don't vote on the basis of which candidate did or did not run a marathon or even whether he's a runner at all. If he did, great - that's an admirable feat. If he didn't, I don't hold it against him. I've never run anything over 5K, even though my husband has run several marathons, but I have some idea of what's involved. That's not the point, of course. The point is that Kerry (and possibly Edwards) seem to be lying about the accomplishment. How pathetic do you have to be to lie about running a marathon? Probably as pathetic as someone who puts in for a Purple Heart for shooting at a pile of rice and getting a few grains in his butt, I'd wager.

I want Bush to win as badly as anybody but I really can't fault Kerry if he can't remember the exact year in which he ran the Boston Marathon.

You may be right.

But if Vegas has a line on this, I'm betting that Kerry is being his usual mendacious self. I've never run a marathon, but like a number of other posters, I know I read in Runner's World maybe 10 years ago about the need to qualify for the Boston marathon by getting a good enough time in another marathon.

IIRC, at that time, folks wishing to qualify were advised to run the marathon in St. George Utah because it wasn't a very challenging (hilly/hot/etc.) course.

I can't wait for someone to find an old articl quoting Kerry about running the Boston in his "magic cap" from Cambodia.

You can search back 'till 1979, so I merely searched on "John Kerry" marathon.

I received 50-some odd hits and paid to view up to 3 full articles (excerpts appear in the basic search).

Since we may only post excerpts here, I'll post the three articles I did view for those who care to pick up the standard and check out others in search (vainly, I fear) of any definitive "John Kerry ran the Boston Marathon" reports in past editions of the Globe.

#1-"Sports" section item, by Dan Shaughnessy, April 20, 1982

"Marshall Medoff was in a good mood when the 86th Boston Marathon wound down in the Prudential garage yesterday afternoon. He spent a good part of the post-race rush hour wading through an ocean of exhausted runners, interviewing competitors and slurping from a cup of yogurt - one of 12,500 donated by the Columbo Co. of Methuen..."

KERRY CONTENT (paraphrase): Then-Lt. Gov candidate Kerry had a plane fly an aerial ad over the race course/finish line area.

"As the Boston Marathon prepared to get under way last week, US Sen. John Kerry, who was to serve as starter for the wheelchair division, took an exit off Interstate 495 that was closed to all but official vehicles..."

SUMMARY: Kerry picked up the racers and took them to the wheelchair starting point.

"HOPKINTON -- There were no pratfalls -- not anything resembling a single slip-up -- at the start of yesterday's 92d Boston Marathon..."

KERRY CONTENT: Kerry was the official starter for the wheelchair race, a ceremonial position he seems to have held more than once in the past.

Odd, too, that he doesn't mention the details of his involvement with the race. One would think his involvement with wheelchair-bound participants in the past is something he'd at least mention in passing when discussing his past involvement with the race.

Y'know, he had a chance at getting away with this until he threw in the "qualified" part. Thousands of bandits run the race every year. I don't know what the BAA does with them at the finish line, but they probably let 'em slide through.

I ran and finished Boston 4x in the late-70s/early-80s. I know my finish times.

AM1776 pointed out the VERY tough qualifying standards during that time. You don't just show up, not even if you're a well-connected politician. Will Cloney, the race director during that time period, simply would not have allowed it, and any politician asking for the favor would have been embarrassed in the press.

Simple Q to Mr. Kerry, "OK, I'll believe you ran, I'll believe you finished, and I'll even believe you don't remember your time, IF, IF, IF, you can tell me what marathon you ran in to qualify for Boston, and when."

Prediction: He won't answer, or will claim to not know or remember. This is not possible without Alzheimers. His only "vague" answer might be that he ran a "few" marathons in the year he qualified. OK, big guy, name them.

This is actually WORSE than Christmas in Cambodia to me.

It is something a LOT of people can relate to, and it would appear it doesn't even pass the smell test.

If John Kerry can not even remember wether he was in Cambodia for Christmas during his short four months in VietNam, than how can we ever expect John Kerry to remember when he ran in a Marathon. ( rolls eyes, and said with much sarcasm)

133
posted on 10/05/2004 3:50:28 PM PDT
by AmericanMade1776
((John Kerry is now in full retreat))

That's funny, because there was an American guy (not Kerry) in the late-70s early 80s who DID take on a Kenyan's name and try to use the identity to get race favors like hotels, etc. I never quite figured out his angle, and he got caught pretty quickly.

I'll bet Football Fans for the Truth never dreamed they'd get into an honest-to-goodness campaign controversy. They've got one now. Way to go, guys.

If Kerry ran as claimed in 1982, according to one of the earlier statements (the sentence from 2002 that says "20 years ago"), it was one of the years when 2:50 was required.

Not only was the time difficult, but you had to have run it sometime from the beginning of the previous calendar year until about March 1 of the current year. You don't get a lifetime pass if you just did it once a couple of years earlier.

So his qualifying time period would have been 1/1/81 to 3/1/82. This further limits the realm of possibility.

Can't resist: Anyone who has finished Boston (especially just once) has their finish time SEARED....SEARED into their memory.

Don't look for the Boston Athletic Association to have the records on this, they were lax about preserving their history until about 1990 when they started to take an interest, realizing the value of it as their 100th running approached in 1996.

But the Globe printed a list of EVERY official finisher the day after the race, and anyone with the patience and a ridiculous amount of time could search the fiche records at the library.

WOW. you have almost-successfully eliminated the period from 1979-forward, which is significant.

It also has the side benefit of showing that there is no record of him having run a qualifying marathon (sub-2:50 or sub-3:00, depending on the year), at least in the area. Of course, he could have done one anywhere else in the country, but even then there's a chance the Globe would have picked it up and noted it, especially since Kerry's the type to have wanted the acheivement of having qualified reported.

I ran the Boston Marathon in 1980 and my time was 2:51 minutes. Everyone that runs knows their exact time and the year they run. Marathons are important personal events. Newspapers in the Boston area even print the finishers and their times. There would be photos everywhere of John "Live Shot" Kerry if he ran this race. Something is WRONG with his story.

Plus, didn't Boston require a qualifying marathon time, even back then? So he'd have to have run TWO marathons.

The only way his story makes any sense is if he ran it without officially entering the race, which has been known to happen. But for someone as high-profile (and press-seeking) as Kerry, that seems pretty unlikely.

140
posted on 10/05/2004 4:25:05 PM PDT
by zoyd
(Hi, I'm with the government. We're going to make you like your neighbor.)

I agree time standards are pretty tough even today. They were even harder earlier. If Kerry qualified we'd know about it. I've actually got my PR on the Boston course (2:38). I do take somewhat of an offense that he claims to have run it. I EARNED it! BTW, I'm off to Hawaii for the Ironman in a few days. It will be my 6th time.

Boston uses corrals for the athletes. No number, no entry. And they have a lot of spotters on the course looking for runners w/out numbers. I'm told they are quite aggressive in getting bandits off the course.

I remember John A. Kelly [won it in '35], and John J. Kelly [won it in '57] they were both still running in it in the 60s when I used to go see it before it became a big deal. Don't remember a John F. Kerry.

Oh, wait, in 1970, just before the lead runner came in, I was under the reviewing stand, in front of the Prudential tower, when some people ran down the home stretch with a banner that said "Balmy in Boston, Bombing in Cambodia" Maybe that was Kerry.

149
posted on 10/05/2004 8:29:03 PM PDT
by Flash Bazbeaux
("I'll have the moo goo gai pan without the pan, and some pans.")

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